Radical Gloves Interview

Radical Gloves are quite new to these shores. What is the ethos behind the company?RAD! was started in 2009, with a goal of providing fresh, quality, affordable products to people who love to shred!

Questions – Kaz Willmer and Jon Derbyshire

Owner Jez burns in the Pool party!

GB: Back in the day people expressed their style with how they dressed, but gloves were always dull and lacklustre. Did this influence the creativity in the designs?

Rad: A little bit. There is so much variation in outerwear these days, from super-rude patterns, to dull colours. A lot of kids don’t even ride in outerwear anymore! So our products have the ability to compliment whatever your shred attire is, especially now that we have brought some mellow looking products in to our line.

Rich Jonas - Tail Block

GB: Are there any other products you would like to expand your range with?

Rad: I think the company will stick with gloves, mittens, accessories, and limited softgoods for now. It’s important that we keep focused on quality, and what our customers and fans want. There are definitely some surprises, and new products in our 2013 line that will be really popular next year.

Ozzy Henning hippy jump (no feet in)

GB: How do you go about developing your gloves?

Rad: We are constantly trying to improve on feedback that we receive from the previous season. If we keep moving forward like that, our gloves and mittens will only keep getting better. We’ve had huge success with most models over the past few seasons, so we carry those gloves and mitts on the following year with fresh artwork so people can keep buying what they’re stoked on.Our team riders, fans, and friends are constantly submitting ideas to us too, which is awesome. It’s a great way to keep the product fresh.

GB: There are many types of rider. Who is your target audience/ What kind of rider do you hope will ride with your gloves?

Rad: In Australia, we are only stocked in the most legitimate snowboard stores. Generally the people who shop there are excited and stoked on snowboarding year round. We’re following the same formula with our overseas retailers, which will help keep the brand relatively ‘core’.At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter who it is, if they are stoked on RAD! and they want to ride it, it’s all good!

Ozzy Henning Front board filming for Romes 12 months

GB: What makes you different from other glove brands out there?

Rad: We’re a small Aussie company that’s growing internationally, fast. There aren’t that many of us around in the snowboard industry!

GB: Looking at the gloves spec, they seem bulletproof and loaded with tech features. How important is the quality of the gloves to you?

Rad: Without quality, you’ve got nothing! Unfortunately, all gloves and mitts have a used by date, especially for season-round riders. But if your handwear can last the entire season, which all of ours do, that’s a good start.

Rich Jonas cork back 7 nose

GB: We have been seeing quite a few shots of Will Radula-Scott wearing these gloves, including at the Big Air at Freeze Festival. Who else will be wearing Radical gloves this season?

Rad: Will has been repping hard for us, we’re stoked to have him on RAD! Rich Jonas also rides for us in the UK which is great. Keep an eye out for our boy Ozzy Henning who is going to continue blowing up the internet this season, Flo Corzelius in Austria will be doing big things this season too.We have a solid posse of team riders around, and they are all super nice, approachable dudes. So don’t be afraid to say what’s up!

GB: We absolutely love the design of the Smitten Mitten. How did the design come about?

Rad: It has evolved over the last few seasons to some pretty rude artwork for 2012, but people seemed to love it! It has a bunch of tech features, but most importantly keeps you stoked while shredding. It’s hard to be in a bad mood when you look at your warm, dry hands and all you see is ‘RAD’ and ‘LOVE’.

GB: How important is the price point to the company? And how did you keep costs down without compromising quality?

Rad: It’s the entire reason why the company was started. So it’s extremely important.When manufacturing, things just cost what they cost. When you start negotiating on prices, that’s when you can lose quality. So if we as a company cut our margins a little bit to get our products selling around the world, then it’s something you have to do!

GB: The Baller Mitten is a fully loaded full goat’s-leather mitt. Would you consider this to be at the top end of the glove spectrum?

Rad: Yes sir, the Baller Mitt is just a full goat leather version of the popular Smitten Mitten. It comes with a bonus sachet of Nikwax, and also some stretch fleece liners for combo warmth. At a banger price, even our top of the line mitten is affordable.

GB: You also do a solid line of accessories including tees, beanies, face masks, boot dryers and socks. What are your highlights of these?

Rad: Our accessories are all fairly simple products, just with a RAD! touch. Again, the important thing in our accessories line is quality, and pricepoint.

GB: Where can the UK riders get hold of Radical Gloves?

Rad: Currently, RAD! is only sold at The Board Basement in the UK. You can check out their website here

GB: If you could see Radical gloves on any rider in the world who would it be?

Rad: Pretty stoked already on our current team! But geez it would be nice to get Scott Stevens and Torstein on board..

GB: How stoked do you get seeing random riders wearing radical gloves on the hill?

Rad: So stoked! It’s awesome. Sometimes you even get in to a conversation with them about where they got them, and what they like most about them. Just some cheeky market research!

GB: How much of your life goes into the brand?

Rad: A lot.. It’s sometimes difficult to keep motivated, but fortunately it doesn’t take too much to get stoked again and keep hustlin’.

GB: If someone gave Radical gloves £100,000 to invest in the company, how would you spend it?

Rad: Where can we find this person? That would be a huge help! That dime would cover our 2013 manufacturing budget and costs, and maybe even give us a marketing budget to reward some team riders and get Scotty Stevens on board!